As many of you know I used to film and make a lot of videos. I am not exactly sure why I stopped but its been about 10 months since I filmed and edited a video. This meant that everyone in Italy didn’t really know this side of me. Somehow it came up that I used to do this and my friends convinced to film our trip to Florence since it would be my second time going. Soooooo I thought I’d share this short little video I made.

And there ya have it. Only a little bit longer in Italy and really trying to process all of that. I am ready for the comforts of healthy American food and my doggos (and of course family and friends)

 

 

love and miss you all lots,

gabi

The Italian Derby 

About a week we ago we hopped on another bus and headed to the city of Siena. This trip was different than our other day trips because we would be arriving the day before the Palio or as I like to call it, The Italian Derby. So the Palio is an ancient roman tradition that usually takes place twice a year: once in July and once in August. Why is this Palio taking place in October then? I guess I need to do a little back tracking and first explain what it is. As you have probably already guessed the Palio is a horse race but what makes it so crazy is that it takes place in Siena’s main piazza and lasts 75 seconds. 

There are a lot of nitty gritty details about the Palio and just how crazy it is but I am just going to give a quick overview. Italian towns are sectioned into “contradas” which are essentially neighborhoods. LET ME TELL YOU contrada pride is strong. Arguably stronger than the pride people feel for their home state. So 10 of the 17 contradas will race in the Palio. People will pay anywhere from $100-$1000 to watch this race. The contradas will pick a jockey but the horses get picked through a lottery. Now this gets to the crazy part. The winner of a Palio pretty much gets set up for life but the second place contrada is considered the first loser and they take this very seriously. The jockeys will often get beat to death and there are many accounts of others getting hurt. Sometimes jockeys won’t get off their horse and will just keep riding to avoid any injuries. If your contrada gets last place no one cares but if you get second you get beat. There are also a lot of quirky details like if the jockey falls off but the horse still crosses the finish line first the contrada will still win. Here’s a link to a more detailed account written by an actually journalist if you are interested:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/travel/1986/06/15/sienas-palio-is-a-link-to-the-past/dd3a7cff-815d-4aa2-ae8a-bf7a9f8ee38d/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1dc82d53e115

Yeah so lots of weird details but back to why this one was happening in October. About every 15-20 years Siena will hold an “extraordinary” palio. These palios will commemorate special events in history, important people coming into town ect… This palio was commemorating the 100 yr anniversary of the ending of world war one. To put it into perspective, the last extraordinary palio was in Septemeber 2000, and the one before that was February 1980 so it was a pretty big deal that we just happened to be there the day before. 

Any ways so even though we didn’t get to see the actual palio, events took place all weekend to celebrate the Palio. They had huge processions going through the streets and one of the races which we didn’t even know was happening. Our professor told us that we had a couple hours to walk around the city before we would meet up for our tour. There was a line of police standing in front of the piazza and it was pretty apparent that we weren’t getting in to watch the race so we sat on the ground and looked between two balconies. I was pretty pumped because half our class had left but my friends were being indecisive and we realized that were standing right were the starting line was. This was so cool to see all the horses and jockeys get into place and then watch them race. i really don’t know how we got such a good view. After watching the race we headed to an atm and as we are pulling out cash we hear a horse hooves against the cobble stone. Again, we just happen to be standing there as we watch the jockey walk his horse through the streets and the entire contrada, wearing matching colors, follow them. It was sooooo cool and made me wish that I had something that brought my entire neighborhood together like that. 

After that we walked the streets the of Siena and I fell in love. I got the yummiest truffle and sausage pasta before we meet up with the group to walk through the cathedral. This post has gotten a little lengthy so I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves. This city was truly amazing.

Well friends I have 2 more weeks in Italy which is truly shocking. Especially because I still need to write about Berlin, Croatia and Volterra the city I HAVE BEEN LIVING in for the past 2 months. Looks like I’ll be writing a lot when I get home

 

Love and missin you all a little extra this week,

gabi

Alrightyyyyy who’s ready to hear all about to Pisaaaa. As you already know from reading the title Pisa can be broken down into two parts: the terrible engineers part and the riding bikes through the tuscan countryside part.

 

Part 1: The terrible engineers of Pisa

So growing up, I don’t know if I wasn’t listening or my teachers somehow failed to mention this but the leaning tower of Pisa is NOT a structural phenom that leans on its own. It’s actually quite the opposite, over the past 10 years or so there have been several attempts to straighten the tower out so that it doesn’t fall and kill people. Here are some google pictures to show some methods of straightening out.

 

 

Like how they didn’t straighten it completely out though?? Gotta keep the the humans coming back to see the unskillfully engineered leaning tower right? Not only was it failed to mention the lack of proper engineering but my elementary education also failed to mention that there are two other leaning bell towers and the main cathedral is also a little lopsided. Hahaha okay I really should cut these people some slack because a) if I tried to build a tower on harbor it wouldn’t have made it 6 stories tall and b) hey I mean at least they didn’t give up building when it started sinking 3 stories in.

 

While the leaning tower was cool and all I actually liked the cathedral and camone (cemetery) much better. There were some of the prettiest frescos and sculptures, I was shocked.

 

 

Part 2: Bike rides through the countryside

 

So here’s the funny thing. After going to Venice we pretty much just assumed that we are pretty spoiled in Volterra (a very small medieval hilltop town) and wouldn’t love super touristy places but Pisa was a different story. Our trip to Pisa was supposed to be a quick day trip to see the city and various monuments. We had 6 hours to see everything and this all seemed perfectly reasonable. Once we got there we walked around for an hour or so when a couple friends and I realized that we actually liked it here and wanted to stay the night. I did some quick searching on airbnb, made a couple phone calls, figured out the bus systems and then we were letting our teacher know we weren’t going to be taking the train back to Volterra with them.

 

So we finish up at the the leaning tower of Pisa and head straight for the bus station. Miss the first bus but luckily made it on to one 15 minutes later. I’d just like to paint this picture for everyone: 4 college aged kids standing on the side of road in farmland. Oh and you can’t forget that we didn’t have any luggage. Our bed and breakfast hostess, Naomi, was so sweet and picked us up from the bus stop. As we drove away the buildings slowly turned into fields and fields of greenery. Once we arrived there was the sweetest looking farm house sitting in the middle of these fields. Naomi explained that this was her father’s organic farmland and that she had the vegetables we requested waiting upstairs. Yeah so here are some pictures of some of the better moments of my life thus far:

 

 

After being shown around the house we ask where the closest grocery store is so that we can buy just the basics like ya know clothes for tomorrow, a phone charger and some groceries. Naomi informs us that is too far to walk but she might be able to find 2 or 3 bikes. Without fail she somehow finds 4 bikes for us (??? only in italy does somehow magically produces another bike out of nowhere) Now this is where the magic really starts. It was too dangerous for us to ride bikes on the roads so we had to bike THROUGH THE TUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE; just awful right? Hahhah no way I literally thought I was living a dream. We somehow make it without getting lost and make it to the coolest store I had ever been. So you know how at airports these have those conveyor belt things, well they had those but they were slightly elevated so that you could take your shopping carts on it. The grocery store also had an H&M attached so we got $7 t-shirt dresses for the next day and matching pj sets that $21. Yes, they were worth the investment.

As we walk out of the grocery store the sun has started setting. We hope on our bikes and head back though the farmland as the sky turns from pinks and purples to dark blues. We can’t stop laughing because this is one of those moments that will never really feel real. Things like the fact that we are literally dripping in sweat or that my bike doesn’t have breaks don’t even phase us. I just kept leaning my head back and closing my eyes. I can say that this is one of those moments that I felt pure bliss. Once we get back we all shower and start to make ourselves dinner. We meet the sweetest couple from New Zealand and spend the rest of the night talking about all our travels, our careers and how much we all miss breakfast foods. The next morning we wake up for sunrise and walk through the fields. We eat the best tomatoes I have ever had for breakfast, pack up and start our journey back to Volterra.

Ahhhh I can’t stop smiling while writing this it is bringing back so many memories. My biggest dream in life has been to spontaneously travel and I can say it has successfully happened :)) so thanks for reading about all my adventures friends

 

Miss and love you all lots

gabi

 

Hahaha where to begin…? So over the past month we have been visiting surrounding cities and hilltop towns throughout Italy. I wanted to share these experiences with you all, especially before I go on fall break next week. 

 

Starting with my least favorite…

ADULT SEAWORLD 

 

So, if you know me you know that I pretty much equate heat to the devil. I am such a winter person its not funny. Sometimes I get so hot I will literally break down like a 5 year old. (sorry we all have our downfalls) This being said I have never been super keen to hot places such as Arizona and Florida. Keep this in mind while I discuss this first city please.

 

Sorry for all the Venice lovers out there I am just going to say it straight… I really did not love Venice or Adult Seaworld as we call it. We were pretty much just taking a train into the abyss of the ocean before we saw Venice coming up and we were all so excited. (We being my classmates, 12 architecture students plus Jayde and I) As the train arrived in the station we hopped up, grabbed our backpacks with clothes for the weekend and moved with the crowd off the train. The second we get off the train we were IMMEDIATELY hit by a heat wave and 30000% humidity. There was an uncountable number of humans buzzing around us and it smelled very strongly of seaworld. Because of this heat, humidity and absurd number of humans the name Adult Seaworld was coined as we stood on the platform waiting for our classmates. Our group moved off the platform and into the first parts of the city to get vaporetto tickets. Vaporettos are pretty much water buses that act as the public transit system in Venice. Okay so as our professor is attempting to get tickets, tourist are swarming all about. And yes we are also tourists but sometimes we forget this because we are currently living in Italy.

 

Anyways so we’ve got lots of humans around, it’s unbearably hot and 14 college students beginning to act like children because 2pm have yet to eat today. It was a mess. Long story short we get food, get out on a vaporetto, and begin our weekend. We start out by going to the Vatican’s installation at the Biennale and Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. (quick backtrack: so the biennale is the architectural exhibition/conference that happens every other year and is from June to November… pretty much it is just architecture heaven) Here are some pictures from the Vatican’s installation 

Now this first day in Venice was September 14th which actually was my birthday. We went out and got dinner after dropping our bags off at the hostel. It was soooo yummy and I had the best cheescake of my life. The next day we toured Doge’s Palace, which is essentially the main government building that has been around for hundreds of years. Next was San Marco’s church which was absolutely breaktaking. It had gold mosaic tiled ceilings and you’re not allowed to take pictures. 

After that we spent the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday walking through the Biennale exhibits. I fell in love honestly. I don’t need to bore you with all the details but here are some pictures that do not do it justice. 

So overall Venice wasn’t a fan favorite at first because it was so overcrowded and unnecessarily hot but I loved the biennale and the rich history it had to offer.  

 

More stories of our adventures coming this week :))

 

love and miss you all lots

gabi